Who says there’s a democratic machine in Union County?

Union County prosecutor Robert J. Vanderstreet in his arguments in the Renna case today tried to paint Tina Renna as politically partisan (and thus presumably not capable of being a journalist as silly that sounds in our Fox/MSNBC/Drudge/Air America mileu) by pointing to her:

“dislike of the democratic machine here in Union County.”

An exact quote that the people in that courtroom (other than me) didn’t squirm at. Some didn’t even remember him saying it, such was there tacit acceptance of the proposition. Where was the ‘alleged’ or the ‘supposed’ or the ‘what some people call’ in the prosecutor’s remark? Nowhere to be found in his prepared statement.

Yes there is a machine and everyone recognizes it, especially the cogs. The next question: where is the outrage? Where is your outrage?

As to the rest of the case nothing was settled today except a plenary hearing was scheduled for Thursday, February 28 where presumably the same half-dozen people from the Prosecutor’s office with their deep pockets and unlimited resources will mill around seeing if the UCWA still has the grit, determination, and money to fight the machine.

According to census figures total employment in Union County is at 202,372. According to New Jersey pension records 20,878 of those jobs are in government. Theoretically then 10% of the members of the Union County Democratic Committee should also be working in government to be representative of the general population. It’s not even close. When […]